Fuel T Repair

[mack]

Not sure if this is of use to anyone. I'm a bit long winded as I did this on the fly without a rehearsal. To TC and crazy steve, if you have a video editor, feel free to cut it down to what you feel is useful.
http://youtu.be/jRiv1xJJjZk

[TomB]

That's a cool fix Mack, I'll definitely be using that one.

Thanks for that

[skids]

I agree....good one.

[TomB]

My rock hard dried out fuel Tees were a real sloppy fit in the carbs so I was ready to do this brilliant mod, before I did I thought I'd give another idea a go before biting the bullet.

I put my Tees in a little container with a bit of gas and left them to soak over night. The next morning the Tees have swelled up and are a great fit in the carbs again.

When in use I 'spose the outer ring on the Tee might shrink back a little as it shouldn't be in contact with the gas but the inner ring will be in contact, even if its only gas fumes when parked up.

My question is dya think they'll stay like that when in use?

[mack]

Sorry

but I doubt it. The real problem isn't so much finding gas under your bike in the morning but rather having the gas dripping while your riding .(for any number of reasons) You can try it though, and when they do leak you can just pull the 1 & 4 carbs off the rail and do the mod then.
Good luck man.

[jetmechmarty]

A friend of mine had a very nice Suzuki GS850. It developed a fuel leak. It caught fire while he was riding it. He's buzzing down the road with a lot of flames behind him. It was a trick getting off the bike without getting burned. He managed it and then watched fire consume the motorcycle.

[TomB]

Soooooooo where did I put those Viton O'rings?

Thanks

Tom

[3Phase]

Tom,

The o-rings work great! I did the same mod a few months ago when I took off a set of XJ carbs to put my '80G carbs back on Columbo and of course the tees leaked all over the engine -- "Just one more thing!"

For some reason I wasn't in the mood at the time to make a video or take pictures but Mack shows exactly how to do it and has good tunes, too.

.

[fredintoon]

Not sure if this is of use to anyone. I'm a bit long winded as I did this on the fly without a rehearsal. To TC and crazy steve, if you have a video editor, feel free to cut it down to what you feel is useful.
http://youtu.be/jRiv1xJJjZk

Hi Mack,
that's a neat trick, 4 o-rings and a knife sure trumps laying out the thick end of $100 for a pair of those aftermarket brass tees.
One thing I noticed in the video was all the clean and tidy in your shop as I don't have any in mine.
But still and all, those little retention balls can still disappear once they're loose.
What I do instead of working on carbs on what seems to be a cooler top is to work on them inside a cafeteria serving tray
so that the tray's raised rim acts as a fence to keep little parts from straying.

[TomB]

Tom,

The o-rings work great! .

I'm sure they do, and I'll be doing the mod, after all the modded fuel Tee's are just the same as the $$$$$$ brass ones with O'rings. We have a Viton kit and NBR kit like Mack's at my work so the best price too.

[jetmechmarty]

I fixed one in a hurry up in similar fashion. My XS650 tee failed and there is no nice brass replacement I'm aware of. I stripped the tee and put a short piece of fuel line on each end, then crammed it into the carburetors. Works good. It's nowhere near as nice and neat as Mack's method.

[mack]

Tray

Hi Fred, yes in the beginning I used to use a big tote lid. I've done sooo many carbs since I can do it in my sleep without losing anything. I just do stuff on a towel now. You getting any summer in the flat land?

[Bonz]

Harbor freight has a Viton o-ring assortment, been using them for petcock diaphragm tips and looks to me there are ones that would work for this as well.

[TomB]

Bigger problems now, two of the floats have one side full of fuel.

[mack]

Floats

Tom I assume then that they are the early carbs. I've never been able to get a new brass float for them that worked. I paid big shipping and handling charges only to find the ones that were sent were far to large to fit the carbs. Someone may have a source for good new brass ones that work. The plastic ones will work but you may have to shave off a bit of the left side float at the front. If you don't it will contact and bottom out on the starter jet air tunnel that comes up on a 60 degree angle and meets the main tower. The floats have a small indent in them but it is meant to fit the later carbs and the same feature is at a shallower angle and doesn't pose a problem. Just deepen that float indent and they will work. How it affects the float levels need to be determined.